And Now For Something Different
by Dark Angel Dragon
Summary: Shadow Chronicles AU. TF G1. The 'bots discover some interesting people right in their own neighborhood. Storyline based on G1, '86 movie never happened, based present day. Not affiliated with my other fan fics. New Stuff.
1. Chapter 1

Ok well this used to be a Dark Angel story but I changed it. I wanted to write something that was entirely G1 and stars variations of my female characters from my Genesis story. This is the start of stories I'm calling the Shadow Chronicles.

It's based in current times. The events in the animated movie never happened here, i.e. The Autobots don't have Autobot City and they are still fighting the Decepticons on Earth and on and around Cybertron. Rodimus Prime was never leader, Optimus didn't die and Megatron and the Seekers were never reformatted.

This set of stories will not be in any way related to my Genesis, Revelations or Dark Angel stories, just another stand alone TF story, so I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer, TF originals owned by Hasbro, OC's owned by me. Don't use OC's without my permission. Do not use OC's without my permission.

Any and all comments/reviews/criticisms are appreciated and welcome.

*

*And Now For Something Completely Different*

*Part One*

*

It was just one of those days.

Sirens blaring. Wheels screeching. People running.

Just her luck to be heading back home after retrieving something for her sister and ending up in trouble and on the run from them, going through the city streets of Portland of all places.

She knew who else was around here and didn't want to run into them just yet. Then again she didn't want these ones around either. If her sisters knew what she'd been doing they'd have her rear end, again!

So far she'd tried every method she knew of to get around the ones following her so she could get out of here and back on the road again to home sweet home where she lived with family and friends.

But that wasn't going to happen. Not today she thought. At least not right now.

They were really ticked off. She guesses she shouldn't have opened up her mouth like she always did and say something she'd later regret. Like now.

She had inadvertently run afoul of the Stunticons a little ways up north during her drive and she'd gotten away from them then, only to have them catch up to her in Portland.

And then they arrived. The others she was thinking about. The Autobots.

One of her sisters, the unofficial boss of their little group, had continuously cautioned her to learn to keep her mouth shut. To not talk when it wasn't needed. But she had opened it this time again and she knew she was going to get a mouthful when she got back home.

All she thought is that the Autobots must have been monitoring events in the area or listening to the local Police radios and recognized the Stunticons by their description or were called in by the local law enforcement. It was just an unfortunate bonus that she happened to be there to distract these Decepticons from whatever it was they were doing at the time and inadvertently led them to Portland.

By then the Portland P.D. had backed off when the Autobots showed up. She didn't know then that the ones called Prowl, Bluestreak, Jazz, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had showed up. She had heard over her radio that Autobots had turned up in response to the appearance of the Stunticons in Portland but hadn't known which ones at the time.

"So Prowl?" Jazz asks over the comms.

"Yes Jazz?"

"What's the go ol' buddy?"

"Have each of the team pick a target and take them out one by one. Then we'll all try and take down Motor Master as a group if we can."

"You heard the boss! Let's go!" Calls Jazz to the others. They all split up to go after their respective targets.

"So which one you want?" Asks Sideswipe of his twin brother.

"Does it really matter? They are all ugly and pathetic and no match for my precision!" Muses Sunstreaker.

"Yeah whatever bro'." Sideswipe just ignores his brother's conceited opinion of himself and picks his own target.

But what they didn't know was that the Stunticons weren't really here to cause reckless damage to the vicinity as they usually did. They had come in search of a human driver that had sassed them on the highway and made fools of them verbally. They wanted payback. Pure and simple. In short, they wanted the pink Lotus and its driver now careening through Portland trying in vain to evade them and get away.

The human driver, Casey, was of course making use of her knowledge of the city streets to evade them as best she could but wasn't succeeding as it was five against one. She wasn't really in the mood to keep running. She was tired of driving and wanted to go home and rest after a long day of running errands for her other sister.

She had tried to put out an SOS on her cell phone at some stage but she needed to keep all her attention focused on driving and evading the Decepticon antagonists and she hoped her text had gotten through to someone at home to come and help.

And having the Autobots showing up when they did wasn't something she wanted either, but then it was either being killed by the Decepticons or by her sister if Casey led any Decepticons near her other sisters laboratory.

She decided she could use the Autobots as cover to get away if she could. She really didn't want to have anything to do with either side because she would most likely get in trouble from her sister for causing trouble again.

One of her sisters, Francine, was a well known scientist and worked with both civil and government projects. And some of her secret projects, if found out by the Decepticons, would make either her or the family a target if only the Stunticons had known.

The elder sister Sonia had thought it would be better Francine be as discreet as possible about her science projects to keep everyone safe from harm despite Francine's personality. And of course Casey's incessant chatter and penchant for getting herself into and out of trouble didn't help.

Francine was possibly the smartest human on the planet but hid her true self from the public with her fun loving and frivolous party girl nature and her constant need for public interaction and fun. She wasn't on the run or needed to hide but it was necessary for safety reasons to keep her science projects secret due to the nature of some of the things she was working on and the people who she was involved with.

Casey understood this, but she was a motor mouth that could put the Autobot Bluestreak to shame. Even though she could keep a secret, she couldn't always stop talking, she didn't really know how, but wanted to protect her older sisters work and get home, away from the Stunticons and deliver the items she had picked up for Francine today.

She didn't want to go back home to face the one who would certainly be telling her off, Sonia. She sighed, and thought _'Me and my big mouth, again!'_

Jazz had gotten into position and radioed the others, "Is it just me or are they picking on some human motorist in some flash pink Lotus? Hmm…Nice paint job though!" Jazz commented, noticing how the sunlight was making the custom pink paint show its metallic lilac shine.

"Probably some human who was stupid enough to mouth off at them and now we'll have to clean up after them!" Retorts Sunstreaker over the comms. "At least I get the chance to beat up on some Deceps' and show off my skills!"

It was around this time the Decepticons had the human cornered down one end of a street in the city with no way out. She had the engine revving while stationary and it was shaking the car chassis a little.

The one called Drag Strip decided to voice his opinion of it. "Aww look at the widdle human in its car! It's trembling in fear! Hey it's so afraid of us the car is shakin' too!" He taunts. A couple of the other Stunticons laughed at the remark.

Most of them were still in their alternate modes. Casey was unsure what to do now. This wasn't going to be easy to get out of but she had to at least try whether her SOS was received or not. Stupid smart mouth that she was.

She could see the other Stunticons weren't bothered either way if they had to leave. But Motor Master had forced them to come and take action against her as he was the one she had sassed and got the better of. And he was going to have nothing of it, his Decepticon pride wouldn't let him, even if he had to drag his troops along to do it, he would stay and crush this human for its insolence. The others just saw doing something to the human driver as a bit of extra fun.

Casey had to get out of here and away before there was a chance she was captured, hurt or worse, killed. She was still cursing her incessant ability to talk.

Prowl had come up behind the Stunticons quietly and was watching them from a hidden spot. Jazz and the twins were not too far away doing the same thing. And Bluestreak was in a hidden position for some sniper shots not too far from Prowl.

"So what do you think Prowl?" Asks Jazz from nearby.

Prowl looks ahead to where the pink car was sitting with the human in the driver's seat. "Getting that human driver out of trouble is a priority. I don't know what they did to get into trouble with these Decepticons or why they are even after the human but this would be a good opportunity to bring some prisoners in for questioning. The Decepticons have been too quiet lately and this lot might provide some answers." He replied. He looks over to Jazz and the twins who are opposite himself. He indicates to them to start moving in and engage the enemy.

It was then that the Stunticons changed to their robot modes as they caught sight of a shot out of nowhere from Bluestreak. When it hit Wind Rider, he instantly recognized the gunfire signature and just as suddenly forgot about the human for the time being and focused on the Autobots instead, just like his team mates did.

Just as they do though, Casey sprang her clutch into gear and used it as an opportunity to evade them and get out of there but she didn't get very far. Another car had joined the party. Someone she knew. A friend. Someone had got her message.

During the attack by the Autobots, the ones called Dead End and Breakdown were caught off guard. They were standing there in their robot modes and barely got out of the way when an orange and black Viper ran them down to help Casey get away.

The other car went straight for the pack leader. This big purple and black truck called Motor Master.

Casey guessed her friend wanted to play chicken with the Stunticon team leader. But the Viper charging at him head on got their attention and Motor Master just sat there and laughed heartily.

"As if a little skid mark like that is going to do me any damage!" He taunts. He hadn't even bothered to transform to his robot mode like the others had previously. Not even bothering to think that any humans could do him any harm.

Dead End and Breakdown had jumped for cover and Drag Strip and Wild Rider weren't so bothered as they were in the thick of the fight with the other mechs. But a quiet verbal chat could be heard passing between them about a bet, about their leader, out of Motor Master's audio shot of course as to whether their boss would stay unharmed or his overbearing ego would lead to him getting damaged by a measly human and its car.

The Autobots were still watching as the newcomer charged towards Motor Master.

Prowl had gotten himself and Jazz to withdraw to one side so that they could reach the pink Lotus but it had already taken off. Jazz looked around for a moment and found it close to him, driving away.

"Hey wait!" Called out Jazz as the pink Lotus zoomed past him.

Casey had used her opportunity to get away only to be pulled aside down the road by another friend who was waiting in back up in a white SUV, watching the battle from a safe and hidden distance.

"That human sure has bearings of steel to take that lot on!" Jokes Sideswipe at the Viper driver, "Remind me to give them a medal later!"

"I'd like ta say hi to 'em when we're done for tryin' that stunt!" Jazz adds, ducking in between shots from Drag Strip. "That is if there's anythin' left of 'em."

Prowl looks over in the other cars direction. "Jazz, Sunstreaker, see if you can get in there and help that human driver in the orange sports car?"

But before they could move, the driver had moved around the battle zone, avoiding fire and showing off some impressive driving skills. Numerous energy shots had already bounced off of the car's hood and chassis and the driver wasn't liking the fact that the new coat of paint was probably being scratched up, but then again, the driver didn't like being shot at anyhow. _'Couldn't be helped though,'_ The driver thought to themself, _'A minor sacrifice in order ta have some fun!'_

Motor Master had decided to come straight at the Viper, but it swerved at the last second to get out of his way. He was so confident that he would be done no harm he didn't even bother to think he'd get damaged in another way from a measly human in it's pathetic car.

The car swerved, drifted and flicked out a flamethrower gun attached to the front side fenders and went to work. Well if the driver was going to have some fun they might as well do so with a bit of flair. They then slid the wheels out at a 90 degree angle and watched as all the tires to the left side of his vehicle mode melted from the intense heat of the flamethrower, the driver then careened themself around to face whatever came next.

They just sat there with their engine running, watching the Decep's that were still standing around stupendously at their daring manoeuvre. The move got the awe of the Autobots as well as the two humans watching from afar.

Jazz and Sideswipe were rather amused. "Sideswipe's right! This human has some bolts alright, taking tha wind outta Motor Master's tires like that!" comments Jazz. He turns to Prowl and asks, still chuckling to himself, "Should we go and get that human and their car away from here and in a safe place."

Prowl nodded.

Jazz was still snickering slightly from Motor Master's condition. "At least now that's let the air out of him, we might have a chance to deflate him even more!"

"And here I thought those were his brains being let out!" Jokes Sideswipe as he is narrowly missed by a shot from Motor Master's gun as he finally transformed to his robot mode and took a shot at the closest Autobot to him.

"I heard that you little punk! Get over here and fight like a real mech!" goads the Stunticon leader.

"Gladly!" Responds Sideswipe without thinking of the consequences to himself, with the damages that Motor Master could do to him in a one on one fight.

Drag Strip and Wild Rider had made no attempt to help their boss when he had gotten his tires blown and now he was berating them into fighting when he saw them exchanging credits in between themselves trying to avoid shots from Bluestreak's sniper gun.

"Move it you slagwads! Are you gonna let some rust bucket Autobots get the better of us?" He yells as he indicates to the other Autobots, "Go get 'em!"

They were now dodging the rounds from the Autobot weapons and heading for a fight with their enemy. The Autobots were returning fire of their own.

The driver had not turned to go to a safe distance but instead stayed parked near the battle to watch. It didn't bother the driver at all. They felt quite safe where they were. Stray photon blasts from the surrounding battle ricocheted off the hood of the orange and black Viper. Even though it didn't damage the car chassis, it still damaged the paint job. They still didn't like it, but then the car wasn't ordinary so they just sat there and waited, letting the Autobots handle things.

The car chassis was actually reinforced armour and wasn't affected by any type of energy blasts. The chassis was made of an incredibly dense experimental material that would take the brunt of a blow from a very strong Transformer, even from someone of Megatron's strength, and come out of it without a dent. This was one of Francine's inventions, but Francine wasn't the driver.

The other car just sat there, waiting for their opportunity.

"What the hell is she waiting for?" Questioned the female driver of the white SUV, looking on in the direction of the fight.

Casey was still watching with her friend, "Maybe she wants to show off again?"

The older female harrumphed and then went and sat in the driver's seat of her vehicle and switched on some scanners. She observed some strange sonic wavelengths coming from the Decepticon Breakdown.

She got onto her radio CB unit and contacted the other driver. "You on the air Rusty or are you so bored you've gone to sleep?"

The driver of the Viper knew she was joking. _'Yeah what?'_ Came the response.

"You're watching the sonics coming from Breakdown right?"

'_Yeah I am.'_

"Come on, we gotta get going before they decide to find we're still here." Casey was scared and worried. She took the CB from her female companion and said to Rusty. "It's bad enough Sonny'll throttle me for what I did today, but do you really feel like being chewed up and spat up too?"

'_Unlike like you Casey, I ain't afraid of ya sister or anyone else for that matter. Just back off I know what I'm doin'.'_

"This ain't no ordinary car that maggot's got!" Comments Wild Rider as he notices several blasts bounce off of the hood of the Viper. He tried in vain to blow the fuel tank as it sat there and hopefully kill the human in the car with an explosion, but the car moved to avoid that blast. It was then his scanners notice something else as the Viper moved. "It ain't got a driver? And I seen it move without one. I bet it's one o' them!?" He points at the Autobots.

"Great!" Exclaims Drag Strip gleefully, "Another target!" And he points his guns at the Viper.

Lucky for Rusty that Sunstreaker had come along when he did after dispensing with Wild Rider and then moving on to another target before anyone else could discover the secret about the armoured sports car. But that wasn't to be.

Close by, Sideswipe was fighting with Motor Master and heard what the two Decepticons had been talking about, his slight lack of concentration though almost got his head ripped off by his opponent, but still he talked to his brother in between avoiding punches and trying to land some blows.

"You heard what that Decepti-psycho said bro'?" Sideswipe says to Sunstreaker.

He sighs and replies, "Yes!" He sighs and looks in the Viper's direction. Sunstreaker was now bothered by Sideswipe's somewhat inane question "And I should care about some driverless human car because…?"

At that time Sideswipe was having the time of his life getting the slag beaten out of him. And after Sunstreaker had finished dealing with Drag Strip, he came over and joined his twin to try his luck with the Stunticon leader, finishing off what he knew his brother couldn't.

Rusty was still waiting nearby, watching the battle from close up. She had adjusted her parked spot but not really moved very far at all. She had heard what one of the Stunticons had said, and knew that the Autobot twins had heard also and wondered what they thought of her presence there now.

"Wonder if that car is going to be of any use to us then?" Questioned Sideswipe as he took a nasty blow to the faceplate from Motor Master and got taken down to the ground allowing Sunstreaker to step in and have the fight to himself for a while.

Prowl had heard him from not too far away and calls over, "What were you talking about Sideswipe?"

Now that got Jazz's curiosity, _'What's goin' on now?_' He thought. He was fighting with Breakdown close to the Viper and then the Decepticon landed right in front of the car after being uppercut to the jaw by Jazz.

Rusty then made her move. She utilised the cars mechanical transformation and then suddenly stood there as plain as day, a transformer like the rest of them in the fight.

Breakdown didn't suspect anything, just thinking she was another Autobot, not bothering to look if she had an insignia or not. As he got up he glanced up at Rusty's very tall yet grinning figure and said, "What are looking at? You think its funny do you?" As he gets to his feet he starts screeching, _"What the pit are you laughing at?" _

'_What a mental case he is!'_ She thought.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe paused momentarily from their fight with Motor Master to see what had caused a lull in the fight.

Rusty knew everyone was now looking at her and all she did was allow her faceplate to smirk. She looked around. Prowl had already taken care of Wild Rider and Drag Strip, putting them in restraints. All that left was Dead End, who was in a gun fight with Bluestreak and Motor Master was busy with the twins, while Breakdown was still rambling out of his mind in front of Rusty.

She finally got annoyed by his rambling and grabbed the Decepticon by the neck and very nearly crushed it with her strength then smashed him in the head to knock him out and tossed him over onto the pile where the other two half online Stunticons were, causing the two already there to groan when the dead weight landed on them.

Prowl was surprised with her appearance but didn't let himself become distracted and so quickly put manacles on Breakdown while he had the chance.

While the twins were dealing with the Stunticon leader still, Jazz joined Prowl after getting out of Rusty's way to help keep the prisoners secure.

She had then walked over calmly to where Bluestreak was firing on his Decepticon opponent. Bluestreak had of course allowed himself to become distracted by the tall hulking form of the femme, and not knowing who she was or whether she was friend or foe cautiously backed off when she approached. She gave him a friendly smile which made him relax slightly and even more so when she started laying into a surprised Dead End. The Decepticon had started to worry when none of his gun's energy blasts affected her armour when he shot her and couldn't help wanting to run when she started laying into him, she was just too strong for him.

He was then added to the pile next to the two Autobot Lieutenants.

Bluestreak not knowing what else to do wandered quickly over to Jazz and Prowl and started chattering incessantly about the situation to his two superiors.

"I wonder who she is?" Questioned Prowl above Bluestreak's chatter.

Jazz grinned and said, "Well whoever she is, she packs a punch!"

"I'd have to agree with that." Comments Prowl non-chalantly.

Rusty then walked over to Motor Master.

The Decepticon turned his attention away from his two distractions for a second to ask the femme, "So you think you're good enough to take me down do you? I'm stronger than all of my team combined!" He preached proudly.

"Yeah, sure ya are." She commented blithely, cracking the metal joints of her digits.

She shoved Sunstreaker out of the way who had gotten in front of her while she and Motor Master was talking.

"Hey!" He exclaimed and swiftly went to vent his frustration upon her.

Sideswipe asked him to stop from his position on the ground, "Hold it bro'."

They both watched as Rusty coiled up a massive right hook and took out Motor Master with one punch.

"Dat's gotta hoit!" Joked Jazz in a comedic impression of one of the three stooges.

Prowl had not intended to allow the femme to get involved in their fight after she had transformed and revealed herself. But from his point of view it had been more logical to see what she could do after she had easily dispensed with Breakdown. The Autobots had after all already received many injuries from this short fight with the stronger and near indestructible Decepticon warriors and he did appreciate the intervention.

"Thank you for the help." He commented as she approached with Dead End over one shoulder plate and dragging Motor Master along the ground in her other hand.

Rusty just grunted and said, "Sure whatever." And then dumped her load on top of the other Decepticons already captured, whereas Jazz and Bluestreak quickly put manacles on those ones also.

Prowl continued to watch her as she stood there and watched what his team mates were doing.

Sideswipe looked up from his spot on the ground, "Hey lookit, a femme!"

Sunstreaker comments to his brother, "Well obviously she is you idiot. A load of good you did slag for brains holding me back like you did."

Sideswipe just shrugged when he sat up and let his brother help him up, ignoring what his brother said, knowing it was just Sunny showing his way of being annoyed.

The five of them stand and stare at Rusty while also keeping their optics on the captives.

She stares right back at them with no expression and then turns to leave, deliberately stepping on a half online Wild Rider who groans under her heavy weight as she walks off.

Jazz quickly approached her wanting to stop her from leaving, "Hey wait?" He called grabbing her wrist joint. She had done what she thought was reasonable and now wanted to go but waited to see what the white mech wanted just to be friendly.

She looked him up and down first before smirking and replying with, "You want somethin' handsome?"

Jazz smiles back before asking "Well hey that was some fancy drivin' back there! Nice one! So uh...what's your name?"

Rusty knows the other two, Casey and Vanessa, are watching her and she decided to leave as quickly as she could. She had already blown her cover with revealing herself to them and decided not to reveal any more about her right now. "Not right now Jazz, later ok." She smiled down at him with her tall height. The top of Jazz's headcase only just reached her chest plates, so he had to crane his neck to look at her. She patted him on the top of his headcase and then moved away.

"But it ain't fair! Ya know who we are, well who I am anyway, an' we don' even know who ya are?" Now he was trying to be a charming weasel to get information.

She realised this and counteracted. "Well it's my business as ta who I am an' besides that..." She looks around to the rest of them and winks, letting her optics rest on the twins longer than the rest, "I'll be 'round!" And then turns her attention to Jazz once again, blows him a kiss and then walks away transforming after a bit, doing a 360 degree burnout spin and then driving off at high speed.

"Well how do you like that? No thanks for a job well done after all that work we did, typical!" Comments Sunstreaker.

"Shut it Sunny." Sideswipe replies snidely.

Instead of pummelling his brother for back talking him, he instead comments, "You're just jealous because she was checking me out and not you."

"Yeah right, she was totally looking my way the whole time." Sideswipe retorted.

"Sure she was!" Taunted Sunstreaker, "She was wondering how an ugly piece of slag like you could even stand next to a work of art like me!" He thumbed to himself.

Prowl sighed and shook his head and Jazz laughed to himself as the twins got into a fist fight yet again. Bluestreak just stood by in wonder behind Jazz so he wouldn't get hurt by the marauding twin terrors.

It wasn't too long before Hound arrived with Skyfire to escort the prisoners back to the Autobots base nearby at the Ark for questioning.

Prowl had radioed back to the base after the femme had left with details about what had gone down at the scene and Optimus had dispatched Hound and Skyfire as soon as was possible to pick up them and their Decepticon payload.

"Hey there Hound, my man!" Commented Jazz contentedly as Skyfire landed and the rear compartment opened with the tracker on the ramp waiting.

"Hey Jazz, so what'd I miss?" He replied cheerfully.

This was where Bluestreak interjected before Jazz could even get a word out, "Well this human in a pink car was being chased by the Stunticons and then another car came along that we thought was another human driver, but it wasn't, and she, well at first we didn't know it was a she, well she took out Motor Master's tires with some fancy driving and a flamethrower which was real hot and then we found out later she was a transformer and..."

While Bluestreak continued to ramble on needless of Hound's lack of attention to what he was saying.

Hound turned to Jazz, "A female Transformer, here, on earth?"

"Yeah!" Replied Jazz, "In'erestin' day huh?" Hinting at something to the scout.

"Hmm." The tracker responded. Hound caught Jazz's hint straight away and then turned to Prowl, "It shouldn't be too hard to track her down if I followed her trail from here while it's still fresh."

Prowl noticed Jazz was grinning and sighed, then he was backed up by a couple of grinning twins right behind him, who had finished putting the Stunticons away securely.

"Well Prowl?" Asked Hound.

Skyfire chose that moment to interrupt. "Prowl we are ready to return to base now, shall I initiate take off procedures?"

Prowl looked at Hound then turned to the console where Skyfire's voice was coming from, "Hold on a moment please Skyfire."

"As you wish." Came back the disembodied vocals.

"And Bluestreak you can be quiet now." Comments Prowl.

"Sure Prowl anything you say..." Bluestreak then continued his tirade of reasons why he should be quiet to Prowl's dismay who just sighed again and turned his attention back to the four mechs with him.

He looks at each of them in turn. "Hound, take Sideswipe with you and check out the lead. I personally would like to know who she is and where she came from and whether she is going to be a threat to us or an ally. Report back with any and all information you find." Hound nods.

"Hey, how come he gets to go?" Whined Sunstreaker.

"Because I'm just that good!" Says Sideswipe, pleased with himself that he gets to escape Ratchet's wrath back at the base especially with all his dents.

Sunstreaker makes a move to show his brother what he thought of him and his comment right now but Prowl stops him.

Sideswipe grins and says, "Well now you're the one who has to greet our illustrious and benevolent CMO when you get back and I get off free...well for now I do!"

Sunstreaker cracks his finger joints and points at Sideswipe as he and Hound alight from the landing ramp, "I'll give you your share of Ratchet's kindness when you get back you little red retro rat." He moves out in front of his two superior officers and continues glaring at his brother.

Sideswipe just grinned at his twin and then stuck out his glossa and gave him a mech version of a raspberry. This of course made Sunstreaker want to pummel his brother even more but he held back. For now.

"See ya later Sunny!" Sideswipe called as he transformed and drove off, following the green Jeep.

"I'll get you later you dipstick!" Yelled the annoyed golden Lamborghini from the ramp.

Prowl takes this as an incentive to tell Skyfire to take off and return to base.

He knew that the news he had to report to Prime wasn't going to stay quiet for long considering what they'd found.

A femme. A female transformer of unknown origin. The news would also have to be reported to Elita One on Cybertron if they were able to find her and communicate with her team, who were still hiding from Shockwave back home. They had to know who their mysterious helper was.

It would certainly brighten up the already dismal moral that had been hanging over the Ark of late due to lack of inactivity from the Decepticons, knowing that there was a femme transformer on Earth.

And Prowl hoped that the Stunticons they recently captured could provide them with any information on their activities or lack thereof.

*


	2. Chapter 2

*And Now For Something Completely Different*

*Part Two*

*

Elsewhere in Oregon on a private estate.

A young red head was attending to repairs on a familiar looking orange and black Viper. She was doing the work by hand as she knew she could never get it done properly if she used one of her machines to do it.

Rusty just sat there in her vehicle mode waiting for Francine to finish the paint job. But she wasn't being very patient right now.

"Would you stop revving your engines?" Whines Francine. "It's hard enough getting this done the way you prefer it, doing it by hand, without you revving up every few seconds and making your chassis shake like that, it's annoying."

"I'm bored." Came the feminine mechanical voice.

Francine sighed. "Just be grateful that the paint I'm using is my quick dry nano paint formula. Besides you're always bored!"

"Yeah ya got me there!" The car chuckles. "So when will the other stuff be ready?" Rusty asked.

Francine had to think for a moment. She had so many projects going on that she didn't know what Rusty was talking about for a second. "Oh you mean the scratch proof nano paint? I'm still working on the molecular bonding process. I had to put it aside because I have some other commissioned projects to finish by my deadline for the military."

"Yeah and I wonder what the military would say if they knew you'd built a functional transformer shell, only to have me get my brains sucked into it in the testing stages of piloting. They'd certainly want their own mecha combat units, that's for sure!"

"Well it wouldn't have happened if you had just let me fix the programming protocols first. You went and took it out for a test run without telling me and look what happened. You didn't give me a chance to install the protection barriers for the piloting system that would've stopped any downloading of the pilot's personality into the mecha control system. It's your own fault you know. Just be grateful I was able to retrieve your personality functions from inside the operations system of the mecha to let you function as the mecha itself."

Rusty sighed, "You know I still miss my old beautiful self. I'd just gotten my old body to look exactly the way I wanted it and then this happened."

"What? Before or after the accident? Besides at least the induced coma state is still keeping it alive." She knew perfectly well that the medical nanites injected into Rusty's body after the car accident were doing what they were supposed to be doing. They fixed the extensive damage Rusty had received due to the accident and were now keeping the body's structure intact while Rusty's consciousness was elsewhere.

"Yeah but it'll take a while to get the musculature back to where it was before."

"I'm sure I could come up with something for that." She grinned pondering her previous thoughts. She finished the last bit of painting and then put her tools down.

"It's about time you finished." The car commented. She transformed to her robot mode and then wandered off. "I'm going to see what Casey is up to, see of Sonia's chewed her up yet!"

"Try and stay out of trouble till the paint bonds to your metal skin properly this time." Francine yelled after her and then smiled to herself for a bit, then went to work on one of her other projects.

*

Sonia Tracey was interrupted by a phone call when she was in the middle of verbally abusing her younger sister for her conduct earlier today. She had just finished and put down the phone when she noticed Casey had snuck out during her conversation with an employee from her music studio.

'_Typical.'_ She thought. _'Sneaky little sister thought to make her escape while my attention was distracted. Not that I would have heard her leave anyhow, I was too engrossed in my conversation to notice.'_ Sonia Chided herself.

Sonia wouldn't have seen her sister leave as she was clinically blind, but she had been so overworked lately that she doubted she would've noticed anything at all.

Ever since she had taken over the music studio from her mother she had become more business like and less like she used to be. The car accident that had killed her mother and left her with visual nerve damage had somewhat soured her demeanour and while she didn't actively have a music career anymore due to the accident, it didn't stop her from running the business or enjoying her music like she used to.

She generally left that to her talented daughters anyway. She was glad that they were all old enough to look after themselves when the accident happened as it also killed their father, her husband. He had been another passenger at the time.

She just wasn't as fun loving and extroverted as she used to be. Not like Francine was. Francine had inherited their mother's jovial madcap nature, but the management of the studio had gone to Sonia, while Francine looked after her technology company.

And despite Casey being the intellectual, she wasn't like any of them or their other siblings. She was a chatterbox and a motor mouth, and what she had done today had annoyed Sonia. She was also just as smart as Francine was, but not in a scientific way, she was always researching information, and had good memory recall for just about anything. She could be very brave at times, but for the most part she was generally a coward, more often than not, either way she got herself into trouble.

Sonia just sat there in her office and sighed, _'Family!' _She thought.

*

Casey had absconded herself to the outside of the house and was looking at the view of the red and gold sunset. Something she knew her older sister could no longer appreciate because of Sonia's lack of sight. But sometimes she would sit with Rusty, her closest friend, despite her friend now being a mech.

Right now though she was alone, but not for long. Her friend had just joined her, sitting next to her diminutive form silently and watching the sunset also.

The femme was still thinking about her old body and if Frankie, or 'Dr. Frankenstein', as she liked to call her at times, would be able to get her back into it, despite the fact she had spent almost a year in this mecha one now.

Her old human self was a hazel eyed, tanned Texan with long wavy dark orange hair, rather tall and very muscular even for a female. Her appearance was no surprise as she had come from a background as a wrestling superstar before her public disappearance.

She was appreciative of the medical help Francine had given her at the time. She had been in a dramatic car accident as a result of her ties to underground criminal groups, which had left her badly injured. She had been visiting her friends in Oregon on a career break when it happened and Francine had decided to treat her in her lab with some new experimental medical nanotechnology instead of sending her to a hospital.

Francine had injected her with medical nano-bots that had repaired her injured human body, but after Rusty had accidentally transferred her mind over to the mecha unit, Francine put it away in a medical containment unit and induced it into a coma to preserve it in case Rusty ever wanted to have it back.

At the time she was still in her human body, Rusty was thankful of the full recovery she had made and the help she had received from Francine. So in return, she took her mecha prototype for a test run. And that had resulted in her current predicament.

Rusty's consciousness had become lost inside the operational system of the mecha unit when the transfer happened. But Francine used her technological genius to find it again and set it as the main operating system for the mecha unit so Rusty could function with some form of normality again.

Rusty was growing used to being in the mecha form now and had been cautioned again and again by Sonia about appearing out in public, but with her recent showing off she would get an audio bashing from Sonia like Casey would eventually get. So far today she had avoided Sonia's wrath because Frankie had dragged her off to her workshop for some 'required technological adjustments' as that was the excuse Frankie had given Sonia in order to help Rusty get out of an arguement.

"I snuck off while she was on the phone." Casey said quietly breaking the silence.

"An' I got a new paint job from Frankie."

Rusty noticed her friend wasn't usually this quiet, sometimes Casey could be, not often though. She was always after Sonia's approval but always seemed to stuff up and get into trouble, messing things up and getting yelled at.

Sonia's cold responses always put Casey off and Rusty tried to be as sympathetic as she could. She did her best to put her large hand across the back of her small friend and offer some sympathy. "Don' worry 'bout it. I'm sure she'll come after and grill me sooner or later and forget about y'altogether!"

Casey gave her a smile.

"Com'on let's get back inside before someone sees me and Sonia has something else to add to her list of reasons why she hates me right now eh?"

Casey began climbing up onto Rusty's shoulder plates and the femme rose when she was about halfway up and they both return inside the hangar which led underground to Francine's private lab.

*

Back at the Ark, Ratchet had begun work on repairs for the Autobots who had come back from their skirmish with the Decepticons.

Needless to say he wasn't a happy Chief Medical Officer.

"Sit still Sunstreaker." He griped.

"But..." The Lamborghini whined in return, uncomfortable with his current position.

"I said sit still or I'll weld you to the table or turn you into some worthless human appliance for my own amusement."

"And what if I don't want to sit still?" Sunstreaker mused himself. He loved testing just how far the medic would go with his threats.

In the hallway outside the medical bay, Cliffjumper and Mirage were walking past on their way out to patrol duty and heard the screams and profanity coming from within.

"I wonder what Sunstreaker did to warrant that amount of torture from Ratchet this time?" Queried Mirage.

Cliffjumper raised a brow. "Seriously though, on one hand I don't want to know, on the other, he probably deserved it so who cares."

"Hmm." Muttered Mirage.

They continued down the hall to their appointed duties and soon blocked out the noise from the medical bay.

Elsewhere in the Ark, Optimus was in his office going over some reports he had received from Prowl. His 2IC was also present waiting for Optimus to finish and sign a digital signature to them so they could be filed away.

While Prime was mulling over the events on the data pads, he noticed Sideswipe's report was missing and asked, "So you sent Sideswipe and Hound out to follow the trail of this unknown femme?" After having read Prowl's report first.

"Yes."

"It wasn't your idea was it?" He replied glibly.

"Actually I think it was Jazz's. Or at least I think it was his. You know how sneaky Jazz can be when he gets ideas that he thinks are great and how easily he can cover being involved in it at all." Came back the confused response.

"Yes very! Especially when he gets involved in the twins' pranks without doing anything at all and we can't prove he had anything to do with them in the first place. He is just too good at giving people ideas and then acting innocent about it afterwards." Optimus started laughing. "So has there been any response from them yet?"

"Hound contacted me on my private comms about half an hour ago telling me they were heading out of town. I only let Sideswipe go because he was in fair enough condition to do so."

"Yes well I am not looking forward to Ratchet's argument either when he hears you let Sideswipe out on another assignment right after a battle with the Stunticons. I guess I wouldn't have agreed with you at the time but I do trust your judgement in the matter. But it'll only be a matter of time before he starts asking..." Optimus stops talking as his comms unit starts buzzing. He grimaces as he sees it's from Ratchet. "Speak of the Cybertronian devil!" Muses Optimus.

He activates his comms, expecting an angry CMO on the other end. But Ratchet is rather polite and calm, Optimus then realises this will be bad, very bad.

Ratchet asks, _'Optimus, could you and Prowl please come and see me in my office. I have an urgent matter to discuss with the both of you.'_

"Of course Ratchet." Optimus replies nervously, very quickly and just as politely. "Right away."

"Sometimes I wonder whether it's you that commands this base or him?" Prowl replies. Then he notices the look on his leader's faceplate, "You don't intend on going to see him do you?"

"Uh?" Optimus rubs the back of his head case with one hand and looks somewhat sheepish. "Right now I'd rather go and face Megatron and his army alone than face Ratchet!" He joked.

Prowl was quite capable of facing Ratchet's wrath without any response and so suggested, "Well you could go and talk to Brawn and Warpath about the Stunticons in the detention bay while I go and talk to Ratchet."

Optimus lets his tightness subside and vents out, "Thanks Prowl, what would I do without you!"

"You'd get no work done at all if I wasn't here to help, that's what! Now get out of here before Ratchet comes looking for both of us alright."

Optimus, taking his cue, quickly leaves and makes his way to freedom while Prowl walks off in the opposite direction towards certain doom.

*

"Anything yet Hound?" Asks the red Lamborghini.

"Not yet Sideswipe." He answers rather disheartened. "I've lost track of the trail for now, but I'm sure I can pick it up again." Hound pauses before he continues. "That pink Lotus you told me about had some fancy tread marks on the car's wheels and that was easy enough to follow. I took note of the other tread marks you told me about that belonged to the female transformer. And both cars seemed to head in the same direction, however?"

"What?"

"There seems to be a third car with the group." Hound had been able to follow the trail all the way out of the city to the south east side where suburbia had started to turn into estates in the Happy Valley area. That was where he and Sideswipe were now.

"A third car?"

"Yeah, judging by the cars inherent weight, it was probably something similar in size or function to Brawn or Trailbreaker but was fast enough to keep up with the two sports cars as well."

Sideswipe scratched his head. "So it was a sporty SUV then huh?" He knew how good a tracker Hound was, he never would have been able to discern all that from following just tire treads. "So where do we go from here?"

Hound was crouched and was moving around some long field grass to try and find the tracks. Since all three had gone off road since leaving the main highway out of Portland, they had been harder to track and Hound had to look more for traces of their trail.

Without getting up or looking up he looks back towards the city. "Well the SUV seems to have gone back into town." He puts his hands down over the two remaining tread marks of the trail he had just rediscovered, "But the other two went this way." He points east towards a hilly farm area.

Sideswipe follows Hounds pointing, "So we go that way too?"

"Yep." Hound gets up and transforms into his jeep mode to further follow the trail. Sideswipe does the same and follows along.

About two breems later they came to a fence bordering a large estate and transform. But as soon as they reach the fence they lose the trail again. It was like the tracks disappeared into thin air. What they didn't know was that along the fence line there was an entrance to a secret underground tunnel going under the estate.

Francine Deane had designed it that way so the entrance was hidden by the fence line. She built her lab underground so she wouldn't be bothered by unwanted guests and so her sister wouldn't complain about all the work she did as it would be out of the way and underground, away from any prying eyes.

"There's no sign of the tracks anywhere, it's like they went straight into the fence and didn't come up on the other side at all?" Hound was confused as he stepped back over to the outside of the estate property.

"A holographic illusion maybe?" Asks Sideswipe.

"No, I would have picked it up on my scanners." Hound replies dryly, "It just doesn't make sense the way the tracks disappeared?"

"Maybe they can do what Skywarp does. That wouldn't leave tracks would it? When they disappear that is." Sideswipe added.

Hound nodded his head in agreement. Perhaps they did. But even then, there was no residual energy signatures that accompanied such a feat, so he was still very much confused.

Sideswipe looked from his comrade's confused faceplate to the area around him and his optics fell on the estate on the opposite side of the fence. "You think they might've gone in there?" Sideswipe asked, keen to go check the place out.

Hound stopped what he was doing and scanned his optics over the scenery before him. He admired the layout of the picturesque place, but then suddenly turned his attention to his comms unit. "As much as I'd love to check it out I'm afraid we have to return home."

"Why?"

Hound had gotten a message back from Prowl that Ratchet had found out where he and Sideswipe were and wanted them back at the base immediately. He knew Ratchet would be after Sideswipe for repairs, and he himself had avoided a check up that morning by volunteering to go into Portland with Skyfire. He relayed more information to his companion. "Prowl also wants us back at the base to report."

"Humph, they really know how to ruin our fun don't they? Well I wonder how Sunny is doing back at the base? Either way, I'll get a pounding from his royal golden-ness or an audio bashing from his illustrious-CMO-ness!"

Hound couldn't help but laugh, "Well if your still in one piece after all that and want to join some of us later for a game of cards, Smokey has one going tonight. I'm going to try and win back the credits I lost to Bumblebee last week!"

Sideswipe laughed, "Yeah, li'l' Bee' ain't as innocent as he looks is he?"

Hound stopped laughing. "Somehow he manages to beat us every once in a while, even Smokescreen, at a game of cards!"

Both of them erupted in laughter and then trail off. "And that all depends if he is actually there tonight." Commented Sideswipe.

"Ok lets head back, I'm sure Optimus will let us pick up the trail another day." Hound adds.

Both admire the sunset for a few moments before transforming back to their alt modes and drive out of Happy Valley, back to Portland Freeway and then back to where their beloved Mt Saint Hilary was situated, close by to Mt Hood in the east.

*

Somewhere in the Atlantic there was an underwater base built from an alien ship called the Nemesis and inhabited by one part of a race of mechanical beings called Decepticons.

Right now it was quiet on the base. But not so much in someone's personal quarters.

'_Thundercracker!?'_ Came the screechy vocals.

Thundercracker had forgotten to set his internal chronometer to be online and at his point of duty by a certain time. And now he was being woken by someone over his comms. He came online suddenly and bumped his head case when the irate vocals of his senior officer startled him into doing so.

'_I'm waiting Thundercracker.'_ Came back a voice devoid of patience.

"Sorry Sir, I'll be there right away. It won't happen again." He replied apologetically.

'_Be sure that it doesn't or I will take out my annoyance on you personally.'_

"Y-yes Sir."

Thundercracker switched off his comms, found himself a mirror and checked over his face. Seeing that he was clean looking enough he dashed out of his quarters quickly and accidentally ran into another of his team mates, Skywarp.

"Overcharge again?"

"Yeah" Thundercracker said sheepishly as he fell in with his wing mate.

"Who got you up this time? Wait let me guess, judging by the look on your faceplate and the rush you're in, it was either Starscream or Megatron, right?"

"Starscream wouldn't really make me rush like this, but yeah, it was him."

"Ouch! Well at least for now your still in one piece, if it was Megatron, you'd already be scrapped...."

Thundercracker stopped suddenly and watched as he heard the two Battlechargers thunder up the corridor after spotting who they were looking for. "There he is! Get 'im before he warps out!" Screeched Runabout.

"I'm on it already!" Cried Runamuk as he came charging at Skywarp.

"Oops! Gotta go, see ya later 'TC!" Skywarp commented amusingly as he disappeared.

As the two crashed into each other not far from Thundercracker, the blue Seeker realised the time and started running for the control room for his monitor duty shift. _'Skywarp will get himself scrapped one of these cycles if he gets caught again doing those pranks of his. Lucky for him he can warp out of trouble in the meantime I guess.'_

He hurried as quietly as he could into the control deck and sat at his seat. At least it would have been quiet had two of his commanding officers, Starscream and Soundwave, not been there to watch him enter, which made him more self conscious of the fact he was late.

"You were late. Again!" Starscream added.

"Like I said before, it won't happen again."

"That's what you said the last time, yet here we are again talking about it, be grateful I don't decide to tell Megatron about all your indiscretions." He growled, "Now where's Skywarp?"

"Right here." The purple and black Seeker replied suddenly.

Thundercracker had not heard him come through the slide door to the control room, he realised Skywarp had teleported in to avoid Runabout and Runamuk back out in the halls.

At that moment Megatron walked into the control room, "Does someone want to explain to me why the Battlechargers are out in the hall lying in a crumpled heap?" He cocks his head and raises an optic ridge over at Skywarp who immediately tries to act innocent and not look his Leader in the optics.

"What?" Skywarp says innocently when his optics finally meet Megatron's gaze.

Megatron took a swipe at the back of Skywarp's head case and grabbed him, forcing him to sit at the table and then went and sat down at his own chair.

"Never mind the monitors Thundercracker, you're needed here." Bellowed Megatron. "Soundwave take over Thundercracker's duties for the time being, I need him for a mission."

"As you wish Commander." Came Soundwave's monotonous vocals.

Thundercracker vented a sigh of relief as yet again, his lateness had avoided Megatron's attention. "A mission?" Questioned Thundercracker as he came to sit at the table.

"Yes, a mission, now sit down and be quiet." Screeched the wing commander.

Megatron raised his brow over Starscream's vocal intrusion but then continued. "The Stunticons tracking signals disappeared somewhere in this human city of Portland..."

"Then we should go and destroy the city and get them back." Interrupted Skywarp. Megatron glared at the black jet. "Err...sorry Sir I'll shut up now."

"So you should." He paused before he continued. "Judging by the report I received back from Buzzsaw it is more than likely that the Autobots have Motor Master and his team incarcerated by now…"

"As if those pathetic Autobots could even down a team like the Stunticons in the first place…" Interrupted Starscream.

Megatron took the datapad he had on the table in front of him and threw it at Starscream's head to shut him up. He was disappointed that his Air Commanders reflexes were quick and he missed.

"As I was saying, Buzzsaw reported the scene and informed that they had help. It appears the Autobots have a new recruit. Some kind of black and orange Earth vehicle as well as being a female transformer. She appeared to have taken down Motor Master with one blow." Megatron was of course referring to Rusty, who had been seen taking part in the fight with the Autobots.

"Are we going to go and break out the Stunticons…" Asked Thundercracker before he was cut off by Skywarp.

"And bash a few Autobots while we're at it?" Added Skywarp.

Megatron had become annoyed that he had been interrupted yet again, but he was more tolerant of Thundercracker than he was of Skywarp and ignored the purple Seeker altogether. "Not Exactly Thundercracker, I will need you to fly with Ravage and Laserbeak to the Autobot base and check out the facts of the report I received back from Buzzsaw. I want visual confirmation of this femmes presence on their base and want to know whether she is a new recruit or not."

"What about the Stunticons then?" He asked.

"While Laserbeak is attending to that matter you and Ravage will attend to the Stunticons." Megatron continued.

"What about the rest of us?" Skywarp queries.

"We are being utilised for a more important mission." Starscream announced proudly for his own benefit.

"What Starscream means, is that while you are on the Autobot base, we will be taking care of Shockwave's latest shipment of energon via the space bridge." Megatron commented.

"Damn! No Autobot bashing today." Murmured a dejected Skywarp quietly to himself.

"Surely my battle skills could be used for the space bridge defence Sir?" Thundercracker was rather indignant at being used as a courier for Soundwave's cassettes.

"Do not question my orders Thundercracker."

'_In other words,'_ Thought Thundercracker, _'I'm more reliable and less expendable than the others. And should the Autobots want to fight, they will leave their base and it will be the rest of my brethren that will be shot at and not me.'_ He was quiet for too long and Megatron cleared his vocals. "Yes Sir, understood."

"Good, you will leave immediately." He turned his attention to the Starscream and Skywarp once Soundwave had ejected Ravage and Laserbeak and left the room with them, to discuss their mission brief with them.

*

"You know I don't think this is a good idea?" Whines a pink haired college student. "I don't even know why you dragged me out here today? I'm missing my classes at college for this?"

"Shut it Casey. The Autobots won't really care if we get caught 'coz they've already seen us before, well me anyway. And besides, ya really wanna sit inside a stuffy lecture room and listen to claptrap about History or Archaeology or whatever it is you study than be out with ya friends?"

The young female responds, "Yes." Quietly. "So why are we here anyhow?"

"Because I want to meet and greet the Autobots..."

"And do something completely and utterly stupid, right?" Casey interrupted.

Rusty glared down at Casey and the human cocked an eyebrow up at the large female mecha.

Rusty was one of the very few that Casey wasn't afraid of personally. But being her normal self, she hightailed it whenever Rusty got angry and wanted to bash something, namely her when she went too far with her verbal sassiness. It was something Casey did on a regular basis, annoy Rusty to the point where she got frustrated enough to get peeved. Where Rusty could put up with almost anyone, Casey got under her armour more often than not, one reason why the femme was good friends with the young human and kept her around.

"Okay so how are we going to get in?" Asked Rusty.

"More to the point, how are we going to get in without being noticed?" Casey asked. She knew a mech of Rusty's size couldn't stay unnoticed for long.

"I kinda borrowed this from Frankie." She replied.

Casey looked at the device when Rusty lowered her hand to show her. Casey saw it was Francine's new experimental thermoptic cloak unit. She knew her elder sister's inventions would work first time every time and didn't blow up. But she was still apprehensive.

Rusty smirked, "Don't worry 'bout it, so long as it works long enough to get us in there," She points over to the Ark from their hiding spot in the forest close by the Autobots base. "I'm not too fussed!"

Casey sighs, "Fine whatever, but I'm sitting in your cockpit. If you cause trouble then I'd rather be somewhere relatively safe than trying to hide from a bunch of stampeding giant alien robots that are chasing after you for something you did."

Rusty laughed as she opened the chest cavity of her mecha unit shell. Behind the now opened plating there was a pilot's seat. Had Rusty's personality never been sucked into the mecha unit, she would probably be using it herself, yet it was still there and still operational. Casey quite often hid in there when she wanted to hide from Sonia's wrath. Plus Rusty didn't have to worry about asking whoever was sitting in her driver's seat to get out when she transformed either, only when others were in her passenger seats.

Casey climbs in as Rusty lowers herself to her level. "Anyway Rusty, I think that if you go in the front door and that thing doesn't work, the Autobots you met yesterday might recognise you and not fire?" Casey asked, "But then again if they don't all know about you by now then we might get fired at." She settles herself into place as Rusty gets up and closes the cockpit entry and activates the internal comms unit.

Rusty shrugs, "I don't really care." The femme looks over to the entrance. "I don't recognise the Ferrari and F1 'bots over there so we'll have to use the cloak device to get in."

Casey sighs over the comms. _'We might as well get this over and done with since we are here now. God forbid I'm going to have my innards ripped out and rearranged by my sister yet again for getting dragged into another one of your crazy plans!' _Casey replies from inside the cockpit.

Rusty laughs as she activates the cloak unit and makes her way over to the Ark.

*

Not too far away Thundercracker had been getting very bored waiting for Ravage and Laserbeak to return from inside the Ark. He was waiting for word from the Cassettes. They would give him a signal for when he was needed to assist with cover fire when the Stunticons made good their escape. In the meantime he was hiding himself close by, ready and waiting.

That was until he heard voices. Distinctly feminine. Coming from an area not too far from where he was hiding.

He didn't hear their conversation, nor did he see Casey, as he only saw the femme and happened to glimpse her briefly before she disappeared from view.

'_She must be the one Megatron was talking about earlier?' _He thought to himself. After remembering, he didn't notice whether she had a sigil on or not, but then again he didn't get a good look at her either.

When she had been visible he had noticed she had wandered off in the direction of the Ark. But just to be on the safe side he decided to stay put and keep an extra optic out in case she was after him.

He had been told to stay out of sight and wait for the two cassettes to return. He would rather follow orders than risk getting Megatron angry, so he just continued to sit and wait and stay hidden till he was needed.

*


	3. Chapter 3

*And Now For Something Completely Different*

*Part Three*

*

Rusty had walked right into the Autobot base, past the guards on duty out the front and right through the halls of the Ark.

It was not too long after that the same guards she passed at the entrance raced past her going somewhere in response to an alarm that had suddenly started going off.

At first she thought it might be her but the Autobots had raced right past her position without her being noticed, she thought for sure they had some kind of detection tech that had found her. But there was obviously something else going on that had nothing to do with her.

While she meandered around the corridors watching what was going on, she listened in on some of the communications. There was a commotion happening down in the holding cells apparently as two small Decepticons had infiltrated the base and had attempted to free the Stunticons that Rusty had helped to capture the day before.

She didn't know what direction the holding cells were in as she had never been to the Autobots base of operations before. But it didn't take long to follow the noise that led to the disturbance as well as some Autobots that were rushing to the fray.

But there was someone else watching Rusty and her actions. Even though she was keen to go and join in, she had someone watching and making sure she didn't.

_'Don't even think about it._' Came a voice over her internal comms. That was Casey; she was sitting inside Rusty's cockpit, safely tucked away out of sight.

_'Don't even think about what?'_ Rusty replied innocently.

_'You know damn well what I'm talking about. You're stuck with me in here and I'm not gonna get stuck in here with you wanting to go off and fight.'_

_'You're no fun!'_ She mused back on her comms.

'_And just how do you expect to fight to the best of your ability like you usually do if I am in here?'_

Rusty sighs and replies sarcastically. _'Fine, point taken. I promise I won't go and fight anyone, just wander around this base aimlessly, very much like a curious and very excited tourist wanting to meet and greet my heroes, the Autobots!'_

'_No need for the sarcasm.'_ Casey pointed out.

'_No need for you to be so annoyingly obvious either and ruin my fun, now shut up and let me wander around aimlessly like I said I was going to ok.'_

That shut Casey up. She knew if she pressed Rusty, the femme would get annoyed even more and things could get nasty. And she didn't want that especially when she happened to be sitting inside her chest cockpit. But it wouldn't stop her from starting up again later.

Rusty continued to look around and didn't happen to notice any of the faceplates she had seen the day before. She did however save to memory all the new faces she was seeing.

If only they could see her. But Francine's camouflage device was still functional. For now.

At one stage on her way down to the holding cells, following the commotion, she had to quickly get out of the way of a big red Autobot with a fire truck alternate mode that had yelled out about a fire and gleefully went to try and put it out, wherever it was. While she was invisible, she was not intangible and flattened herself as far against one of the side walls as she could as he came rushing past.

_'That was a close call!' _

_'Sure was!'_ Rusty returned the comment.

_'So when are we going to show ourselves or leave even, I'm starting to get a little cramped in here.'_

_'Don't know.'_

'_What do you mean you don't know?' _Queried Casey.

_'Do you ever stop talking or asking questions?' _Rusty was getting annoyed by her young friend now.

_'No. Do you ever stop being the world's biggest pain in the ass.'_

_'I thought that was your job description?' _Retorted Rusty.

_'No it's definitely yours, because you have a way bigger ass than I'll ever have you overgrown tin can!'_

Rusty tried to stifle a laugh. This was one reason why they got along so well. Casey would always backtalk her and she loved it. Though she didn't always appreciate the banter, most of the time it amused her, sometimes she was driven to angry fits and was known to chase Casey around Frankie's Lab.

Rusty had wandered past what looked like a security room with a red and white Lamborghini inside and the door had opened to allow someone out, allowing her to quickly slip in. The Autobot there seemed a little paranoid to her.

"Is someone there?" He asked when he noticed the door had been open for too long when his compatriot left. He quickly and thoroughly scanned the room but didn't subspace his gun straight away. But he did eventually go back to his work.

Rusty however just stood away from him as quietly as she could and listened in on communications.

This Autobot received an incoming call from outside the base and Rusty had discovered that the ones she had met the day before were out on a mission to take care of some Decepticons at something they called a space bridge.

She took the opportunity to slip out the next time the door opened and quickly left.

She had finally found her way through the myriad of corridors to where the holding cells were, but was disappointed to find she had arrived after all the fun had already happened.

While she was wandering around the Ark sightseeing and arguing with Casey over her internal comms system, the two small Decepticons who had infiltrated the base in order to emancipate the other prisoners, had completed their mission and high tailed it, leaving behind several injured Autobots who had been battered by the Stunticons and the two small soldiers on their way out and were now being attended to by some medic called First Aid.

_'Damn!'_ She whispered over the comms, _'I missed out on all the fun!'_

She could hear some loud laughing over her comms and pursed her lip components as she knew Casey was laughing her head off at Rusty missing out.

Even though she was still invisible, she couldn't help but still hide as she watched what the Autobots were doing.

_'Hey Rusty?_' Came an imploring voice from within.

_'Not now, I'm trying to watch them.'_ She replied.

_'But it's important!_' Casey sure was insistent about something, she noticed.

It wasn't until she made optical contact with one of them that she realised something was wrong and possibly what it was that Casey was trying to tell her.

She had to duck as quickly as she could to avoid being shot at by some small red Autobot she had discovered was called Cliffjumper, who was also a tad trigger happy.

She heard murmurs behind her about 'Decepticon spy' as she rushed away from the area where she had been spotted.

_'Why didn't you tell me the cloak was out of juice?_' She questioned Casey.

_'I was trying to tell you, but no, you're too much of an Autobot voyeur to even listen to me.'_ Casey whined and she continued to do so as Rusty made a run for safety.

She had put some distance between her and the other Autobots that had come after her. She didn't want to fight her way out, these were the good guys, she didn't even want to lay one mechanical digit on them, hence her hasty retreat to try and get to the entrance first, to get out before they caught up with her.

Little did she know she had accidentally tripped a silent security alarm and it had drawn the attention of a certain security officer, whose room she had passed earlier and whose room she was very close to now.

She had been resting against a wall and had made a move to turn her head around a corner to see if anyone was still following her when she was found.

"I've got you now you Decepticon spy!" Exclaimed a voice behind Rusty as the shorter mechanoid slapped something on her wrist.

"Hey get this offa me." She demanded, easily lifting the mecha into the air as he was trying to put the second side on and held fast to the end of the cuff while she waved him about trying to get him to let go. But he wouldn't budge, so she let him down. "Fine then." She huffed. She then raised her other hand up against the wall so he couldn't reach it as he was trying in vain to get both her hands secured.

The smaller mecha instead yelled out to another who just happened to be close by. "Over here Inferno. I caught this one red servoed trying to sneak around the base and steal our secrets."

Rusty saw that it was the same fire truck that had nearly bowled her over before and she used her feminine charm and smiled at him sweetly.

"Do I look like a spy to you?" She purred. "You think if I was a Decepticon that I'd be standing here talking to you. I'd be trying to shoot you with a weapon if I actually had one?"

That got him. "Aww com'on Red' she don't look like a spy t'me. She don't even have a weapon out." Inferno pleaded to the security officer.

"That's what she wants you to think. She's trying to charm you into believing she's not a spy Inferno, don't listen to her." Red Alert was fighting very hard to get Rusty to lower her other arm so he could apply the other cuff and escort her to the holding cells for questioning and obtaining Decepticon secrets.

"Red, take it easy, she ain't fightin' ya or anythin'!" Comments Inferno. "No need t'make a fuss. She looks like she'd come along quietly if we asked her to."

Rusty wasn't going to fight any Autobots and so just stood there listening to them talk. She figured she could just tear open the cuffs later as they didn't seem very strong anyhow.

"Nonsense Inferno," Red Alert continued, "She was caught wandering around on this base alone and happens to be here while there is a Decepticon escape going on. She is obviously a spy sent here to distract us and steal files to hand over to Megatron."

'_This Autobot is such a maroon!'_ She hears Casey say over her comms. And while she laughs at Casey's comment, lowering her arm to place them on her hips, the smaller Autobot takes advantage of her distraction and manages to grab Rusty's other wrist and clamps the other end of the cuffs on her.

"Hey, I thought I told you to stop that?" She stops for a moment as she starts to feel funny and weakened and starts to stagger. "Oooh, woozy!" Rusty had never had stasis cuffs put on her before and therefore didn't know they would affect her thus. While she wasn't exactly a Cybertronian, her mecha shell was Cybertronian in design, and affected her just the same. It wasn't long before she collapses on the floor in a loud and crumpled heap.

The excessive noise brings a few others in curiosity.

"Did we get 'em?" Asks Cliffjumper excitedly.

"So that's the Decepticon?" Asks Windcharger.

"Yeah, she's probably gonna terminate us all when she wakes up." Whines Huffer.

"Oh shut up Huffer." Yells Brawn frustrated at the yellow and purple Minibot after he punches him out.

"Since when did the Decep's have any femmes?" Asks Gears as he joins the group now surrounding an offline Rusty. All the comment got was a few shrugs from the others present.

All Casey could do was lie on her side inside the cockpit area and sigh,_ 'What is this, a peep show or something?'_ She thinks to herself. Rusty was still able to hear with her audio system even though her optics had gone offline from the stasis cuffs.

"Brawn could you lend me a servo over here, this femme is pretty heavy." Asks Inferno.

"Sure." Replies the small green minibot. But quickly regrets it as the femme is very heavy even for him, so in the end the two take an end and help to carry her to the medical bay to wait till she comes online again.

"Careful now I want her in one piece for questioning." Red Alert states.

He gets a glare from Brawn before the minibot turns his attention back to the matter at hand.

They make their way down to the medical bay only to find that the others who were out on a mission had also returned and some were being treated by Ratchet who had returned with them, while they were about the base chasing their other intruder.

As soon as they waltz in, "Where did you find her?" Comes an annoyed and gruff voice. Ratchet had only just started patching up the last injuries when the femme was brought in and he wasn't impressed about having another body to work on, let alone a strange one.

"She is a Decepticon spy and I caught her wandering alone around the base stealing our secrets." Red Alert replied feeling very proud of himself.

Rusty had only just started to get her systems up and running again and was still feeling a little funny and so she was seated in a chair with both her hands in her lap in stasis cuffs.

Jazz and Prowl were present and recognised her. Jazz spoke up, "Tha's that femme from yesterday." Now Ratchet was curious.

The Autobot called Red Alert proudly announced his captive, "I found her by Corridor B on her way down to the entrance, obviously trying to escape and take her secrets back to the Decepticons."

"And Red' I'm tryin' ta tell ya, she ain't no spy. She was a big help ta us yesterday with the Stunticons." Jazz replied stubbornly.

"But that's what they want you to think. She comes in here and befriends us, earns our trust and then betrays us and steals all our secrets, handing everything here on this base to Megatron."

"And I for one trust Jazz's judgement." Interjects Prowl. "He is usually a very good judge of character, so when he stands up for someone without ever knowing them, I'm inclined to listen to what he has to say about them, no matter how illogical it may seem."

"And just what are we going to do with said femme then hmm?" Ratchet asks the 2nd in command.

A glance passes between Prowl and Ratchet and then they both turn to Red Alert.

"Remove the cuffs." Prowl insisted.

"But...but what about my prisoner and my right to question this spy?" He pleaded.

Ratchet was still not in a happy mood and so responded, "We will do that. If there is a problem Red Alert then we will let you know, now get out. You too Inferno." Both left hastily for fear of Ratchet's temper.

That left the CMO alone with Jazz and Prowl.

Ratchet had not believed Red Alert's story and so had sided with Prowl's decision over the femme. They were soon joined by Optimus Prime who was called in to help make a final decision over what they should do with her.

"That is not a Decepticon spy as far as I can tell." Commented Prowl, "She has no markings of any sort, and no marks of any sort on her paint job as far as I can see that would constitute as a cover up of any insignia."

"And also the fact," Ratchet added looking from his scanner, "That she has no Decepticon physiology."

Optimus was looking between the both of them and listening to what they were all saying.

"What's she doin' here I wonder?" Jazz said looking at Ratchet.

The CMO just shrugged and looked to Optimus, "I was finishing work on Jazz and Prowl's injuries when they dragged her aft in here. All I had to go on was what Red Alert was prattling on about."

Rusty had groaned and was lifting her head as her optical units slowly came back online. Her head was swaying and her optics were greeted with Ratchet's grizzly mug and she smiled, "Well hellooo!"

This caught Ratchet off centre for a moment as he knew due to his reputation, no one ever greeted him this warmly after waking up in his medical bay and he raised a brow over it. He however just calmly got out his scanners again and started going over Rusty's vitals. "She seems fine but her internal mechanisms are of a different make than ours."

"What are you saying Ratchet?" Queried Optimus.

"She's definitely not Cybertronian, but her body is of a Cybertronian design, possibly human built."

"And quite a remarkable and well put together design if I say so myself." Exclaimed Perceptor who had just walked in with Wheeljack in tow.

"How so?" Asked Ratchet.

However, Perceptor was unable to answer his question as Rusty decided to interject, even though she was still groggy from the effects of her stasis cuffs. "My, my, my!" She commented looking around. "A girl could swoon over all this sudden attention from all of you mechs!"

The comment made Jazz and Wheeljack laugh.

Perceptor looked aghast.

"Well at least she has a sense of humour!" Commented Optimus Prime. He moved forward to talk to her directly.

"Careful Optimus she may have some kind of hidden weapon that didn't show up on our scanners or subspace check." Red Alert commented from the doorway.

"I thought I told you to get out?" Ratchet snarled.

Optimus put his hand on Ratchet's shoulder casing to try and stop his snarling and turned to talk to the security officer, "It's quite alright Red Alert."

"But…"

Optimus looked sternly at the Security Officer, "Red Alert, we will take it from here thank you for your trouble, please go back to your post."

He replied, "Yes Sir." And left to return to his post. Inferno, as curious as he was, still followed his friend out the door.

Rusty meanwhile slouched in the chair now that she was awake and leant back placing her hands over her head and relaxed, not in the least bit fazed being surrounded by all these soldiers.

"Comfortable are you?" Grouched Ratchet.

Rusty was still slightly groggy but happily replied, "Yep! Would you like to join me?" She joked, tapping her hand slightly on her upper right leg casing, indicating for Ratchet to sit in her lap.

Ratchet only scowled at her. Perceptor was too busy with a scanner to notice the humour. Prowl was put off colour by the comment and the rest got an angry grimace from the CMO when they started laughing and then quickly stopped.

Optimus put forward a statement to her, "Thank you for your help yesterday."

"Your very welcome!" She grinned. "So uh... what were those things I had on me?"

"Stasis cuffs." Optimus continued to talk to her. But his comms unit started beeping and he tried to excuse himself. "I'm sorry that I cannot get more acquainted but I have something to attend to. I need to talk to one of my officers about a situation with the Stunticons from earlier." Optimus explained and left grudgingly.

Perceptor had decided to get a word in after Optimus had left and went straight up to Rusty. "If you would permit us, we, that is to say, Wheeljack, Ratchet and I would like your permission to look at your systems in order to get an idea of your design seeing as how you are not Cybertronian."

She shrugged, not really indicating whether she agreed or objected to any screening, but she did ask, "Just one thing...?"

Jazz and Wheeljack were still snickering and getting glared at by Ratchet and Prowl.

"Yes..?" Perceptor asked.

"Who's Wheeljack and Ratchet?"

"I'm Ratchet and that's Wheeljack." Replied the grouchy white Medic Rusty had seen when she came online again. Wheeljack also gave her a friendly wave.

Rusty smiled, "Well, I'm not bashful in the slightest, so I don't mind a bunch of mechs looking under my hood!"

Jazz in the mean time had settled on one of the side benches after being subdued into silence by Ratchet's cold stares and subspaced a small flagon of mid grade energon to enjoy while he was waiting. In the middle of consuming it he spat out some of it and was choking after what he had heard Rusty say. "Really?" He asked curiously.

Prowl was not in the least impressed and so intervened, "I have work to get back to, so I will go and finish that and take Jazz with me to do that work."

"That's fine Prowl." Ratchet responded, clearly knowing that Prowl was deliberately taking himself and the saboteur out.

Jazz whined as he was being dragged out, "Aww…but I wanted to watch!"

"Jazz you are so incorrigible." Commented Prowl on their way out.

"Hell yeah!" Was the reply from the Porsche as he was finally dragged into the hallway.

Ratchet followed them out the door and then spotted the small crowd outside the medical bay, listening in and eagerly awaiting a view of their unexpected guest. Ratchet's scowl was enough to make them disappear suddenly and so the hallway soon became completely empty as mechs scattered in all directions to avoid his wrath. He went back inside and closed the doors behind him.

Perceptor excused himself to talk between himself and the other two for a moment.

"Sure, no problem." Rusty said as they moved away. She was soon bombarded with a tapping noise from inside her chest cavity from her passenger seat, which was actually Casey kicking the inside of the shell casing on her chest.

'_Are you going to let me out now?'_ Came a voice on her comms.

"Ok sorry yeah." Rusty said out loud.

Wheeljack had wondered why Rusty was talking to herself until she saw Rusty taking her friend Casey out of the passenger seat that was inside her chest cavity. He walked away from his fellow Autobots who were deeply engrossed in conversation and wandered over to Rusty and addressed Casey.

She was slightly startled by the sudden appearance of the Autobot scientist and squealed in surprise, which in turn got the attention of Ratchet and Perceptor.

"Is it a cassette unit of some kind?" Asked Perceptor.

"Maybe it's a Targetmaster?" Replied a curious Wheeljack.

"What's a Targetmaster?" Asked Casey. She was slightly bewildered at suddenly being looked at by so many Autobots and settled down as soon as Ratchet spoke.

"She's just a human." Ratchet clarified after using his medical scanners on her.

Casey squealed again when Wheeljack poked her unexpectedly.

"Yep she's all soft and squishy!" Wheeljack humoured. He looked up from the table where Casey was sitting down cross legged then looked up to Rusty. "I saw you get her out of your chest casing. How does she survive in there without being squashed?"

Perceptor was now definitely interested, "You mean to tell me that you can walk around in robot mode and have a human sitting inside you?"

Rusty nodded, "Yeah she sits in my pilot seat."

"Pilot seat?" Queried a confused Wheeljack.

Perceptor asked, "Could I have a look at this pilot seat you are referring to?"

Rusty laughed, "You're a bit up front aren't you, asking to see under a girls hood before you even know her!" Even Ratchet had to admit she had a great sense of humour and so laughed along with Wheeljack and watched poor Perceptor become flushed.

Ratchet noticed the look on Rusty's face and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Nah, it's ok. Just never seen one of you kind blush before. I'm finding it interesting how similar some of your expressions are to us humans."

"Us humans?" Queries Wheeljack. "What do you mean by that?"

Rusty realises she spoke out of context in regards to her comment, "I guess I better give you guys a bit of background information on me then huh?"

"Yes I think you should." Ratchet replies sternly.

Casey sighs from where she is still sitting looking up at the four mecha and thinks, _'Sonia is going to have our hides again!'_

Rusty explained to them about her car accident and how she was helped to full recovery by her current employer and technologist Francine Deane.

"Are you talking about _the_ Francine Deane, the one who'd the head of Deane tech international?" Wheeljack asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah why?" Rusty answered back.

"I've always wanted to meet her."

"Is that some intellectual scientist thing or are you sweet on her." Rusty commented.

Ratchet laughed.

This comment caught Wheeljack off guard. But he wasn't amused by this humour. "It's because of her talents in the field of technology that I want to discuss some things with her, not due to any human/robotic interaction or interest." He said flatly.

Rusty just grinned. Obviously someone had brought up the subject with him before and he wasn't impressed about someone doing it again. He was a scientist after all, she thought, perhaps he was only into science and technology.

"Are you going to tell us the rest of your story?" Asked Ratchet.

"Yes please continue, I am most curious to know how you came to be like this?" Added Perceptor.

"Well you see Percy, say you don't mind me calling you Percy do you?" She asked.

Perceptor shook his head, "I am used to it. My comrades here quite often use the nickname also."

"Well anyway," Rusty continued, "Frankie had built this prototype battle mecha shell. I wanted to help her out after everything she and her family had done for my medical recovery and bills, so I wanted to do something for her. I knew she hadn't yet tested this unit she'd just finished building as she didn't have a pilot for it, so I went out and tested it for myself."

"So I take it, at that point you were still human?" Wheeljack asked.

"Yeah."

Casey had been quiet until then, but now decided to make her presence known again. "But she didn't know that my older sister had yet to install the personality buffer device."

"Personality buffer?" Queried Perceptor.

"Yep, it's a system that creates a divisional field between the mecha unit and the pilot driving it to prevent the personality of the pilot from being sucked right into the machine. Francine was just about to install the personality buffer that morning when she found out Rusty had taken the prototype unit out for a spin."

Rusty laughed slightly to herself, "Yeah, Frankie got real pissy about it, from what I was told afterwards when they brought the unit back in."

"Were you not still in the pilot's seat when it was returned to where it was supposed to be then?" Perceptor asked.

"Yes and no. I was there but I wasn't. You see because the personality buffer wasn't there, and the fact that the mecha needs a direct mental interface with the pilot to be operational, my mind was sucked straight into the machine, therefore becoming it. Took Frankie about a month to retrieve my mind from in here." She taps her head casing. "I've been like this for about a year now."

"Absolutely fascinating!" Commented Perceptor, getting out his scanner again.

"Well stranger things have happened!" Joked Ratchet.

"Yeah I suppose." Wheeljack added.

After that they questioned Rusty about her body shell construction. She gave them as much info as she could, all the while Casey complaining that she shouldn't be telling them anything and she should let Francine explain to them about it.

What Casey didn't understand was the emotional strain being a mecha had put on Rusty in the last year. She knew she could not return to her body. And she was the type to suffer no regrets and so she was feeling confined at Frankie's lab and wanted some her own size to be around for once. Which was why she was being so open and friendly with them.

When she was alone with Casey, she commented, "They're only Autobots after all, what harm could telling them do."

"It's not them I'm worried about, it's Frankie. If the Decepticons get hold of this information or even Frankie herself or her head designer, there'll be hell to pay for all of us." Casey warned.

Rusty signed. She knew her small friend was right and so she called over Ratchet.

After some explanations.

Ratchet had left Wheeljack and Perceptor to mull over some technical scans they had done of Rusty in the medical bay, while he walked with Rusty elsewhere, while Casey got to sit up on Rusty's shoulder casing.

"You don't need to worry about us using any of that information for nefarious purposes but I will talk to Optimus and make sure the information is safeguarded against any Decepticons getting hold of it alright."

"Oh I'm not worried in the slightest. It's Frankie I'm trying to protect. She's a good friend and I wouldn't want anything to happen to her especially considering the reputation the Decepticons have when they want something."

Ratchet sighed. "I still can't believe your body shell is completely human made?"

"Yeah well I'm in enough trouble already, not only for coming here today without telling anybody, but also because I've told you."

"We'll make sure it won't get into enemy servos. But for now seeing as how we're finished with our scans, feel free to get to know the locals."

"I thought for sure given your personal reputation Ratchet, you would have had me kicked out of here by now?" She queried.

"Well we have to keep the rest of this rabble occupied while the rest of us get some work done around here now don't we, and you provide the perfect distraction for them right now." He grinned. "Besides I had better get back to my office to make sure Wheeljack hasn't blown it up by now after looking over your scans." And he promptly left, leaving Rusty at the door to the common room on that level of the base.

Jazz had managed to get away from Prowl at that stage and was catching some downtime with the rest who were off duty or recovering from injuries when Rusty was spotted at the door.

"Hey here she is!" He called out to her, "Come on over and join us for a drink!"

Rusty looked aside at Casey and shrugged her shoulders, "Might as well have some fun while I'm here before we go home and get grilled eh!" She walked over to them and placed Casey down on the table and sat down. She was curious about what they were drinking, as she could tell they were obviously drunk on something, "So what's this stuff?"

"What do you mean? It's energon? You mean you don't refuel on this stuff?" Sideswipe queried. Rusty recognized him as the red Lamborghini from the day before.

"Nope. I have my own independent power cell."

Some at the table were too drunk to care what she had just said and just passed her a drink, "Then let us be the first to offer you a drink of our finest high grade!" Someone named Brawn said to her.

She took it and looked at it, "Oh well, bottoms up!" She exclaimed, sculling the drink in one go and getting astonished looks from the others. She looked at their faceplates and asked "What?"

They were stunned for a minute or so after seeing her down such a high concentration of energon so quickly and not having an instant affect on her like it should have, but then they burst out laughing and just handed her another.

What she didn't know was that she and Casey were being watched. Laserbeak had left earlier but had come back in order to get more information and spy on the Autobots. The mecha bird was recording everything it was hearing and seeing, including everything Rusty had explained to Ratchet, Wheeljack and Perceptor earlier.

Back at the Decepticon base, the footage was being viewed and processed. An idea was forming in Megatron's mind.

*


End file.
